Apr 8: E-Stories Saturday
Day 409: Donetsk Melitopol Avdiivka RUforces UAplans KaraMurza VK Turkey UAPolshells China UAreconstruction HungarianPress BEL Lavrov A&P XSovietNews UKDef Africk Davis Lozovsky Liubakova Jomini
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Russia's attacks on Donetsk Oblast kill 5 people in past 24 hours. Five people were killed and nine were injured by Russia's attacks on Donetsk Oblast over the past 24 hours, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on April 6. Russian attack on Kherson Oblast injures 7 people.
Several explosions were heard in Russian-occupied Melitopol. Ivan Fedorov, mayor of the city, reported on Telegram
"It's loud in the still-occupied Melitopol district. Residents reported several loud explosions in the north of Melitopol and in the surrounding villages."
Official: Ukrainian border forces sustain more than 1,800 Russian attacks in March. More than 900 clashes between Ukrainian border guards and Russian forces took place during the month of March, an 11% increase compared to the month before, Andriy Demchenko, spokesperson for the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, said.
According to the reports from the line of engagement, Russian units are now pulling out from the “north salient” near Avdiivka. Fighting is underway for the control of Novoselivka but Ukraine is not trying to assault the village as of now, “they are more signaling their presence”. “The south salient near the village of Vodyane is still holding up, but [Russians] may retreat from there in the next two days,” the source tells Novaya-Europe.
Moscow wants any Ukraine peace talks to focus on creating a “new world order”, the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP) quotes Lavrov as saying.
Any negotiation needs to be based on taking into account Russian interests, Russian concerns. It should be about the principles on which the new world order will be based.
A video distributed by Prigozhin’s press service showed him standing in front of dozens of graves with wooden crosses and wreaths."They continue to bury Wagner fighters here, today there are no problems," Prigozhin said in the video referring to the private military company that he founded.
ISW: Putin likely creating conditions for further repressions in occupied territories. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's recent comments on "terrorism" and threats to Russian security are likely meant to set the conditions for further repressions in occupied territories of Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update.
The British MoD predicted new resignations in the Russian army, as the generals failed to fulfill the tasks designated by the Kremlin and lost a large number of soldiers during the offensive in Ukraine. The intelligence report says that, apparently, the Ministry of Defense has already fired Colonel General Rustam Muradov from the post of commander of the Eastern Military District (VVO) and removed him from operations in Ukraine.
High resolution imagery from @Maxar and @washingtonpost shows some of the equipment at this Russian military depot and the defenses built nearby. Russian forces constructed several fortifications near this site and throughout occupied Crimea: https://washingtonpost.com/world/interactive/2023/ukraine-russia-crimea-battle-trenches
It seems the Kremlin has largely given up on gathering troops for its war in Ukraine through mobilization. Likely because Russia's leadership remains fearful of a domestic political backlash. Instead, they have been upping efforts in recent months to encourage men to sign up voluntarily and serve as contract soldiers.
The Insider: The prosecutor requested 25 years in prison for Russian politician and journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza, lawyer Maria Eismont said. Vladimir Kara-Murza was arrested and sent to a pre-trial detention center in April 2022 on charges of “faking” about the Russian army. In March, Kara-Murza's lawyer reported that during his stay in the punishment cell, the politician began to experience numbness in his limbs. So, on the 3rd day after being placed in the punishment cell, Kara-Murza began to lose sensitivity, first on the right foot, and then on the left.
The Russian social network Vkontakte has allegedly banned advertisements for services related even indirectly to study or relocation abroad. The company denies the reports and attributes the misunderstanding to a poorly worded support-service message pertaining to VK rules on ad consistency.
Lavrov arrived in Turkey on Thursday for talks with his Turkish counterpart on the future of the deal that allows grain exports from Ukrainian ports through a safe corridor in the Black Sea, as AFP reports.
Russian intelligence head claims situation in Ukraine has taken features of ‘religious war’. The head of Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service claimed on Tuesday that the situation in Ukraine has taken the features of a “religious war” amid recent actions taken by Kyiv with regard to the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra monastery. Naryshkin claimed that the Ukrainian government and Western leaders seek to not only ban, but also “literally and physically destroy” canonical Orthodoxy on the territory of the country.
“We understand that for Western capitals and Kyiv authorities, there are practically no red lines in matters of aggravation of religious conflicts. The situation in Ukraine has acquired the features of a religious war,” Sergey Naryshkin said in a meeting with Lukashenko in Moscow.
Julia Davis: Boris Nadezhdin, who was a close ally of murdered opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, compares Putin to Nicholas I, argues that his regime is coming to an end and says that Russia should stop its war against Ukraine. I worry for Nadezhdin's safety.
Ukrainians install a large viewing screen on the border with Belarus and broadcast war footage, showing footage of Russian attacks and President Lukashenko’s support for Moscow. The video also shows photos of the bodies of civilians in Bucha who were killed during Russia’s occupation of the town, as well as an address from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to Belarusians.
Classified documents detailing secret American and NATO plans have appeared on Twitter and Telegram. Military analysts said the documents appear to have been modified in certain parts from their original format, overstating American estimates of Ukrainian war dead and understating estimates of Russian troops killed.
The modifications could point to an effort of disinformation by Moscow, the analysts said. But the disclosures in the original documents, which appear as photographs of charts of anticipated weapons deliveries, troop and battalion strengths, and other plans, represents a significant breach of American intelligence in the effort to aid Ukraine. [continue reading]
Official: ‘No more than 5 people’ have information on Ukrainian counteroffensive plans. “No more than five people” are filled in on Ukrainian plans for a counteroffensive operation in the next few months, National Security and Defense Council head Oleksii Danilov said on April 6.
The Ukrainian headquarters of the armed forces supreme command has discussed measures to prevent leaks of military information at a meeting on Friday, Reuters reports, citing the president’s office.
Ukraine to co-produce tank shells with Polish Armaments Group. Ukraine's state-owned defense conglomerate Ukroboronprom and the Polish Armaments Group came to an agreement regarding the production of 125 mm tank shells, Ukroboronprom announced on April 6.
Pistorius to reestablish a General Staff within the ministry of defense led by Brigadier General dr Christian Freuding. The Ukraine task force is to be transferred to a 24/7 operations center to allow for faster and more concise action.
Lithuania to send $44 million worth of military aid to Ukraine. The Lithuanian Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas on April 6 announced that his country will provide Ukraine with a new military package that will amount to 41 million euros ($44 million).
Greece will continue to send military assistance to Ukraine for “as long as it takes,” Defense Minister Nikos Panagiotopoulos said on Thursday during a meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in Athens. He promised more artillery and small arms ammunition shipments, access to Greek hospitals for wounded military personnel and additional Soviet-era BMP infantry fighting vehicles.
Ombudsman: Over 2,500 Ukrainian captive civilians deported to Russia. Over 2,500 Ukrainian civilians have been deported in custody to Russia from the occupied territories, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said during a press conference on April 6, as reported by Ukrinform.
High-level Ukrainian priest of Moscow-linked church charged for his pro-Russian statements. The head priest of the Moscow-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Cherkasy Oblast was charged with justifying Russian aggression against Ukraine, the State Security Service (SBU) reported.
Reuters: China ready to work with France on Ukraine peace. During their talks in Beijing, Chinese leader Xi Jinping and President Macron agreed to "work hard" on achieving a negotiated end to Russia's war against Ukraine, Reuters reported on April 6, citing a French diplomatic source.
At a Chinese foreign ministry briefing Friday morning, spokesperson Mao Ning has asserted that China is in contact with all sides of the conflict in Ukraine. Russia’s state-owned Tass news agency quotes the spokesperson saying:
As for the Ukrainian conflict, China maintains a dialogue with all parties involved, including Ukraine. China always stands for a peaceful settlement and is ready to cooperate with the international community to achieve peace.
Italian drug cartels leverage Chinese shadow banks. Authorities have announced at least six investigations involving drug gangs and covert Chinese payment networks since the issue first publicly came to light about five years ago, writes Reuters. For the first time ever, Giorgia Meloni’s government has asked the country’s anti-mafia commission to probe “the Chinese infiltration in Italian society.”
As reported by Reuters, citing seven Italian judicial and law enforcement authorities, narcotics groups operating in Italy are “increasingly using shadow networks of unlicensed Chinese money brokers to conceal cross-border payments.”
Imports of Ukrainian grain to Poland will be temporarily halted to mitigate impact on prices, but transit will still be allowed, the new Polish agriculture minister Robert Telus said on Friday.
Click here to see the full video.
Rebuilding Ukraine: reconstruction of war-hit streets continues – in pictures- The Guardian
Ukraine has repaired, and in some cases rebuilt, many of the sites destroyed by Russian attacks, including bridges, roads and government buildings. It is only the beginning of what Kyiv has described as the largest reconstruction effort since the second world war and perhaps the most expensive in history, with an estimated cost of half a trillion dollars. [continue to the photo reportage]
‘They Tried to Frame Us’: New Assault on Hungarian Journalists Highlights Media Freedom Crisis in the Heart of Europe- OCCRP
By Ilya Lozovsky, OCCRP, March 13, 2023
Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his ruling party have spent years turning Hungary’s media environment into their playground — not through outright repression, but through market distortion and regulatory capture. Can anything be done?
Taking umbrage at a reporting project in which Átlátszó had participated — an investigation into how the government spends money to support Hungarians abroad — the writer smeared Bodoky and his fellow independent journalists as “a criminal association of paid agents.”
“They tried to frame us,” Bodoky says. “Because we’re monitoring spending on Hungarian minorities abroad, this makes us enemies of the nation? … I mean, this is a very sinister claim.”
This campaign against a respected independent outlet, known for breaking important stories on corruption, is disturbing in and of itself. But it’s also a disquieting reminder of how far Hungary’s rollback of press freedom has gone.
When the country first joined the EU back in 2003, the European Commission hailed the end of its “tragic separation from the European family of democratic nations.”
But now the winds in Budapest have taken on a Siberian tinge. Under Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and his Fidesz party, check after check on government authority has been dismantled or co-opted. The marginalization of the independent press is one of the most egregious examples.
“Over the past ten years, the situation has changed,” said Dániel Szalay, the editor-in-chief of the independent outlet Media1 and a longtime observer of Hungary’s media scene. “Before, there were many free papers, and many Fidesz papers also. We could choose. There was a mix. And now we’re going into a situation which is similar to Russia.”
“Seventy or eighty percent of the media is under the government, depending on how we calculate,” said Szalay. “[As for] the local papers, the regional papers in the counties — they’re all under Fidesz. The ratio in that case is one hundred percent.”[continue reading]